Last year I had a MAJOR Snafu. I moved cities and was so busy I forgot to update the address on my license and the registration on my car. I ALSO forgot that in between buying and selling houses that I had been a little cash strapped and only renewed my car rego for 3 months instead of the usual 12.

Roll around a few months later and many weeks of driving past the motor reg office thinking ‘oh I need to do that … next week!’, I was mortified to be pulled over on a major road in Adelaide while driving to work. The police officer could see my distress at learning my car had not been registered for several months and all of the things that go with that, but still had to fine me roughly $1,500. Fair, I broke the law.

The next problem was a frantic wait to find out how many times I had been pinged by the registration cameras for my regular trips to Adelaide. The knots in my stomach grew tighter as I added up the trips x the cost of the fines. I was able to be proactive and reduce the cost with some begging to the department, but it was still an expensive lesson.

A number of issues had compounded to ensure I didn’t get the notifications. No mail, wrong address, and a new phone meant the government app didn’t warn me either, because I hadn’t logged in.

Now let’s apply this to your company. You set up your company and it sits at the back of your mind. You finally find that house that’s perfect, you buy it and you move house! ASIC is the FURTHEST thing from your mind and you forget to update your address. You don’t get your annual review in the post, so you don’t pay the fee. You go on merrily unaware that you are racking up a debt with ASIC. Worst case scenario, ASIC suspends or deregisters your company. Your company’s bank account is frozen, you can’t operate, nothing in, nothing out!

That is the worst case scenario and wouldn’t happen overnight, but it is a possibility.

An ASIC Agent can prevent this by receiving your annual statement electronically AND they have an obligation to alert you within 7 days of receiving it. Also, the cost of the agent is usually less than the cost of the fine if you are late in paying the review fee.

An ASIC Agent will also help you keep your regulatory information up to date and sort any changes you need to your directors or share structure. Many accountants provide this as a service to their clients, for some its just part of the package, for others it’s a costly extra.

Its worth the check, do you have an ASIC Agent looking out for you? And if you do, is it at a reasonable cost? If you want to compare, check us out here…